Hope
by analogfrequency
Summary: After defeating Wesker, and freeing the survivors aboard the Arcadia, Alice allows herself a few minutes to relax, and is soon joined by someone very dear to her.


**A/N: Hi there. So, I randomly decided to write an Alice/Claire fic, and this little bit of fluff is what happened. Just one quick thing; this occurs a few hours after the ending of Resident Evil: Afterlife, but is written as though Umbrella's helicopters never arrived.**

**Enjoy.**

****A strong, sea breeze whipped across the deck of the Arcadia, causing goosebumps to prick up on the rough, slightly dirty skin of the sole figure standing at the ship's bow. The goosebumps, and indeed, the chill of the breeze itself, were scarcely noticed, as the lone individual stretched well-toned arms out above her head, before bringing them down to rest against the metal railing, a rare smile creeping across a face that resembled damaged porcelain. Alice's work, she knew, was not yet done, but with hundreds, if not thousands of survivors below decks, a hope for the future now swelled within her. A hope that she had not felt since she still thought it foolish to hold on to such hope. When she first heard of Arcadia. At the time, of course, she had thought it to be a colony of survivors in Alaska, but never had she dreamed that when she finally came across the true face of Arcadia –a large ship, sailing down the west coast of the United States-, she would find so many. She didn't have an exact number, yet; the Arcadia was ridiculously large, and Alice suspected it would take a good ten minutes, if not more, to walk from bow to stern. Given the ship's apparent depth, too, it was hard to surmise precisely how many people they had rescued from Umbrella's clutches. It would take Alice, Claire, and the others, quite some time to get everything in order, and obtain a precise head count, let alone a solid plan.

Alice's new broadcast was now being projected as far as it could reach on the emergency frequency, but she didn't doubt that it would be some time before they were contacted. In the meantime, more concrete foundations would need to be laid to allow for the colony to truly prosper on this one ship, and Alice knew, deep down, that Arcadia couldn't be a long-term residence forever. Eventually, she and the other survivors would need to figure out some way of either expanding their fleet, to several habitable ships, or find land that was both fit for human habitation, and safe.

For the moment, however, she gave her head a shake, allowing herself five minutes in which to jar such thoughts loose, and push them to the back of her mind. Hearing momentarily impaired by the motion, the sound of a voice from behind Alice startled her, and she wasted no time in whipping around, fingers already reaching for her revolver, reflexes still almost as sharp as they had been when she was still bonded with the T-virus. She froze immediately when she found herself face to face with Claire Redfield, who was sporting a slight smirk, and Alice felt an involuntary sparking sensation at the back of her neck when she realised that the younger woman's slender fingers were softly brushing her own.

"Jumpy, are we?" Claire's smirk remained as Alice slowly lowered her hand from the holster at her waist, letting her fingertips momentarily caress Claire's palm before her hand dropped down at her side.

"Can you blame me?" Alice's question remained unanswered, as Claire stepped forward to stand beside her, looking up at the brunette with an expression that Alice couldn't quite read. All it took was a smile, a genuine one this time, from Claire, to break the silence between the two women. One smile turned to two, the smiles turned to grins, the grins to chuckles, and, in a matter of seconds, the sound of laughter swam through the ocean breeze across Arcadia's decks. As it subsided breathlessly into the quickly fading sunset, Alice's hands found their way to Claire's jaw, cupping her face gently. Still smiling, Alice let her forehead rest gently against Claire's, her steel blue eyes flickering shut as she felt Claire's fingers once again brushing against her own.

"Thank you." the words slipped from between Claire's lips so suddenly, that it took Alice a moment to register what had been said. A moment that, on reflection, still didn't explain the exact reasoning behind Claire's mumbled words of thanks.

"Why are you thanking me?" the question was brief, simple; the way Alice liked to keep things, as a general rule. She opened her eyes again, only to find herself gazing directly into Claire's emerald orbs. Claire bit her lip, obviously flustered at her somewhat rare display of emotion being called upon so bluntly, and glanced away for a moment, before sliding her gaze straight back to Alice.

"For everything you've done. For us...for me."

There it was. The last two words were pronounced with such emphasis that Alice knew the meaning Claire had intended. In a manner that in no way represented a decline in either woman's mood, both Alice and Claire's smiles faded, replaced instead with a mirrored expression of glazed eyes and parted lips. What happened next came so quickly, that Alice wasn't even sure what had happened. All she knew was that Claire's hands were tangled in her dark, tousled locks, and their lips were moving together in such perfect harmony, that Alice was sure her heart was going to burst from her chest at any second, thanks to how fast it was racing.

It was after several heated minutes, when Claire was half crumpled against the Arcadia's metal railing, Alice's hands roaming whatever bare parts of the redhead's skin she could get to, that a sharp, piercing whistle echoed across the deck, startling Alice into freezing where she knelt, pressed tightly against Claire, who was still jammed against the barrier under Alice's weight. It didn't take them long to spot Claire's brother, Chris, waving cheerily from one of the open doorways that lead beneath the deck, fingers still hovering near his chin where he'd placed them to interrupt his sister's escapades. Beside him, peeking around the doorway with a look of cheeky, schoolgirl delight, was K-Mart, her long blonde hair now tied up in a ponytail, and swinging across her shoulder as she giggled at the sight before her.

"I knew it!" she shouted gleefully, making sure she was loud enough for her words to reach Alice and Claire, who were now seated on the deck, Alice looking bewildered and embarrassed, Claire looking exasperated. Chris, without uttering a word, twirled his hand in the air, and brought his arm down in a deep, mocking bow, before straightening up and saluting the pair, quickly following a, no doubt still giggling, K-Mart, back below decks.

Alice leaned back on her hands, palms digging into the cool metal of the deck, and looked across at Claire, who was shaking her head in disbelief. She turned to Alice, her expression quickly returning to a grin as she sprung from her sitting position toward her, arms wrapping tightly around the brunette's neck, dragging her backward to lie with her. The two were still sprawled on the deck, legs entangled, arms wrapped around one another, some twenty minutes later, when a light drizzle broke out above the Arcadia. The tip of Claire's nose gently running along the curve in her neck, rain spattering on her face, Alice couldn't help but smile.

"_If you are out there...we will help you. There is hope."_


End file.
